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More efforts needed to fight neglected tropical diseases
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- Created on Friday, 28 September 2012 00:00
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More efforts needed to fight neglected tropical diseases
More than one billion people in poor countries are affected by dangerous infections, but they don't get proper treatment. DW spoke to John Kufuor, Special Envoy for the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases.
DW: More than one billion people worldwide are affected by neglected tropical diseases. That's one in six people. Why are these diseases neglected if so many people are affected?
{sidebar id=11 align=right}John Kufuor: They are so common and so general in the poorest parts of the world, including much of Africa, Asia and Latin America. Even as the world pays so much attention to HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, somehow not much attention is given to these diseases that are an affliction for people all over the place.
But is it because it's the world's poor who are affected that these diseases have been forgotten and because they have no purchasing power?
That could be a contributing factor. But as you observed, many societies tend to be marginalized. They tend to be in remote areas and don't tend to have a voice.
Which disease of the 17 diseases counted among the neglected tropical diseases would you say is the most dangerous one for Ghana?
They are all dangerous. Being overcome by blindness is really like being condemned. People afflicted by elephantiasis, or the swelling of the lymph, can even limit them from moving. Can you imagine a subsistence farmer in some remote part scratching the land for a living being afflicted with elephantiasis? That would disenable him from moving. So how would he live? How would he go to the farm? Or if he has some child that is afflicted. How does he go to school? How can he even pay attention to learn? So I believe all these diseases are important. Unfortunately, it takes like one packet of assorted pills to fight all these diseases together.
How did you tackle neglected tropical diseases in Ghana?
{sidebar id=10 align=right}
I assumed presidency in 2001 and stayed in power for eight years. My government took care that diseases like guinea worm, which was quite prevalent in many parts of the country could be eradicated. Fortunately for my government, we had international partners like the Carter Group that voluntarily came and helped the government. Its mission was to provide good portable water for as many people as possible, even in remote parts of the country and to contribute the needed methods, the pails and vaccines from pharmaceutical companies. And then there were the government's own efforts. My government launched the national health insurance scheme with very affordable premiums that all people could access. And even those who could not access it, the state assumed responsibility to cover them. By the time I left the office in 2008, guinea worm was virtually eradicated. Through a gain in enhanced knowledge, I enabled people, including some of them very poor, to know that they shouldn't depend on untreated, stagnate water for drinking. Some of the diseases also come from contact with contaminated soils.
But what about vaccines? Are there vaccines and medicines available to fight and treat these diseases?
We get a lot of help from pharmaceutical companies from around the world. For instance, with the campaign I'm helping to advocate, we have learned that with as little as 50 US cents support for drugs and methods per head per year, we can really eliminate and in many cases eradicate these diseases.
In addition to treating people, isn't it also important to include animals to prevent the spread of rabies?
It's important but, again, that's a function of knowledge. You have large groups of poor communities, which tend to be ignorant. People may not be aware of the diseases that come from infected animals. So, again, education and information are important. This should be pushed by governments and international civil society organizations so that more people know. And those who like to keep pets likes dogs and cats would then know the necessity to vaccinate or treat the pets from time to time so they don't become agents to spread disease.
As you said, knowledge is key but, of course, people have to be able to afford the vaccines.
Yes. I believe that when governments address themselves to this facility, governments should be able to afford or least subsidize the efforts of people to resist the spread of disease.
What are the next steps to get rid of all the 17 diseases in the future?
Internationally, I believe the UN agencies like the WHO should be backing a global campaign. Of course, there should be a number of non-governmental organizations and civil society organizations and there should be national efforts at government levels as well as schools and public health organizations. All these should work together.
Ghana's former president John Kufuor is Special Envoy for the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases.
Date 28.09.2012
Author Interview: Sarah Steffen /jb
Editor Anke Rasper
Source: Deutsche Welle
No commentsGermany's sick organ transplant system
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- Created on Monday, 27 August 2012 00:00
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Germany's sick organ transplant system
A scandal over the manipulation of waiting lists for organ transplants in Germany has led critics to call for tougher controls. They say those who carry out the checks are those who benefit from the system.
When Harald Terpe wrote a report on the scandal over organ transplants in Germany, he gave it the title, "Failure of vital organs." Terpe is a doctor and a Green member of the German Bundestag who sits on the parliamentary health affairs committee. He says better controls are essential.
{sidebar id=11 align=right}In hospitals in the German cities of Göttingen and Regensburg, surgeons are alleged to have manipulated waiting lists for organs so that some patients received a new liver earlier than they would have otherwise - at the expense of other patients on the Eurotransplant waiting list. Eurotransplant is the organization which coordinates the distribution of organs in seven European countries. Terpe says the system should distribute the organs fairly between the various countries. If the procedure is undermined through manipulation, he argues, "then that's the end of the transplantation system."
State control instead of a private club
The German health minister, Daniel Bahr, has said he wants stricter rules, more controls and tougher penalties. The issue will be discussed on Monday at a crisis meeting in Berlin. Terpe told DW that what the German organ donation system needs is independent control and state oversight. There was a need to get people involved, "who have the sense that the process of control should not function according to the principles of a private club."
In Germany, it's the medical associations, the health insurers and the hospital associations which are responsible for overseeing the system of organ donation and distribution. They all have a financial interest since transplants bring in a lot of money. So far, there are merely unsystematic checks on only 1 to 5 percent of all cases. Terpe says he wants regular independent checks and he insists that additional state jobs must be created which should take over responsibility for them.
Bavaria wants the 'three pairs of eyes' principle
{sidebar id=12 align=right}BioSkop is an organization which has been following the transplantation industry critically for years. Their representative, Erika Feyerabend, says the current system allows plenty of room for manipulation.
"I can make an organ out to be worse than it is in order to get it into the speeded-up distribution process, so that I can use it in my own hospital," she told DW. The number of organs which come under the speeded-up process has risen enormously in recent years in Germany - The process allows organs of lower quality to be used quickly without going through the proper distribution procedure.
But Feyerabend says it's not just the doctors who are to blame: "If you analyze the cases in Göttingen and Regensburg, you can say that it's not just the internal control systems of the medical profession - the medical associations and their committees - which have failed; it's also the state institutions, ministries and state prosecutors."
Bavaria is directly affected by the scandal, since Regensburg is in the state. The Bavarian science minister Wolfgang Heubisch has promised a thorough investigation and announced immediate measures: to prevent manipulation, in the state's six transplantation centers, a "three pairs of eyes" control system is being introduced, involving, in each case, doctors from three different specialisms. Bahr's ideas on the national level are similar. There will also be spot checks by independent experts. Terpe finds spot checks inadequate. He proposes an ethics commission for transplantations, in which people from outside the medical profession should also be involved.
More information, less moralizing
Erika Feyerabend calls for a more open and critical discussion of the whole area of transplantation, which, she says, is financially much better supported than many other medical procedures. Like Terpe, she also wants to see all the cases so far in which there's been anything suspicious made public. Insiders who blow the whistle need to be better protected. The critics reject the idea of bonuses for transplantations, and the Bavarian state government wants to see them banned.
Surgeons too are complaining about the economic pressure they and the hospitals are under, which means that, rather than improving the quality of their work, they are being pushed to increase the number of transplantations they undertake. There are about 50 transplantation centers in Germany, and Feyerabend says they are not working at full capacity, and that results in additional economic pressure.
She says, "The discussion about transplantations must become less moralistic," and she adds that there is no neutral information available in Germany about critical issues. Scarcely anyone hears about failed transplantations, and there's little discussion about issues surrounding brain death and the consequences of the intensive care given to potential organ donors.
It's the German Foundation for Organ Donation which is responsible for providing that information, but the Foundation can scarcely be neutral since it is also the organization coordinating the removal and transport of organs. As Feyerabend says, what they do "is more like advertising." Terpe points out that the Foundation gets public money from the insurance system and so the state should put more pressure on it. Bahr has now announced that he plans to examine the work of the Foundation more closely.
Date 27.08.2012
Author Andrea Grunau / mll
Editor Joanna Impey
Source: Deutsche Welle
What Is Cancer?
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- Created on Saturday, 04 August 2012 00:00
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What Is Cancer?
Trainee nurses and midwives kick against hikes in school fees
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- Created on Saturday, 04 August 2012 00:00
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Trainee nurses and midwives kick against hikes in school fees
{sidebar id=11 align=right}The Ghana Nurse and Midwife Trainees Association is protesting hikes in school fees by the Ministry of Health for the next academic year.
The group says the over 100 percent increment in fees is “tantamount to an abrogation of their students’ right to education since most of them cannot pay the extortive amount”.
A statement issued by the Association says student nurses and midwives in institutions across the country are paying between Gh₵800 and Gh₵1,100 per semester for their certificate and diploma programmes.
National President of the Association, Ernest Sarpong, told Luv News the trainees are not at peace with the percentage increase in fees, especially with what he termed “repetitive levying”, where students are continually charged for services rendered for only a semester. These include computer fees and fees for educational trips.
The statement noted that feeding fees had been increased from Gh₵250 to Gh₵400.
“The Association is saying that, at the old charge of Gh₵250, the quality of food in the various schools did not merit the amount students paid. Students are therefore of the opinion that the current increment will not result in any further improvement in the food served”, it stated.
The students also say an increase in library user fee from Gh₵15 to Gh₵30 is unjustified because library facilities in the various training institutions are yet to be stocked with “relevant modern books”.
The Association states that “this increment will lead to some students withdrawing from school because they simply can’t afford these huge sums”.
“The students, coupled with the parents and all other guardians are very much distressed by this. Most of us get into the training institutions because we cannot pay the fees of the universities, so it is very distressing when you get to the training institution and you realize you’re even paying more than sometimes somebody that is doing a fee-paying course”, Ernest wailed.
The Association also wants the Health Ministry to nullify a directive to terminate allowances of trainees when they complete their six semester course.
Ernest says the student nurses have been directed not to pay the fee until the Ministry reconsiders a reduction.
The Association has issued an ultimatum of Tuesday August 7, 2012 for the Ministry to call a stakeholder meeting to discuss the students’ concerns.
Over 30 thousand student nurses and midwives, including interns fall under the Association.
From: Kofi Adu Domfeh/Luv Fm/Ghana
Diabetes facts
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- Created on Tuesday, 24 July 2012 00:00
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Diabetes facts
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